Director/DP Tom Buckholtz has folded New Orleans-based Buckholtz Productions and joined longtime competitor, director Robert Berning, at Robert Berning Productions, Metairie, La.
The two have been friendly rivals for years, said Buckholtz, "even when we bid against each other. Actually, one of our mutual clients said, ‘Hey you two ought to get together.’" After 25 years of running his own company, Buckholtz laughed: "Berning made me an offer I couldn’t refuse." One of the attractions was the opportunity to shed administrative responsibilities: "I’m a director/DP and I don’t have the burden of having my own business [anymore]. Just taking care of production insurance is a full-time job."
The facilities at Robert Berning Productions represented another draw for Buckholtz. "I had an office and cameras, but no studios or editing facilities. Here we’ve got about 20 people on staff, [plus] two editing suites, and two studios, including a blue screen studio," stated Buckholtz. "I can go out and experiment with things that I didn’t have the luxury to do before. [Previously,] even a minor experiment could cost $10,000. Now I can go into the studio, shoot something and go into the editing rooms and try something new."
Through his former production house, Buckholtz compiled recent credits that included Cellular One’s "The Deal" and "Curfew" through The Graham Group, Lafayette, La.; Radiofone’s "Santa Diner" via Alford Advertising, New Orleans; and "Blues Man" and "Kid Pirate" for Popeyes’ Famous Fried Chicken via McCann-Erickson, Houston.
Buckholtz was always interested in film. At Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, he studied art "because they didn’t have film courses then." As a member of the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, Buckholtz recalled, "They made me a cameraman, and actually I made propaganda films to tell everybody how great it was to go fight in Vietnam." He chuckled, "I did that for about four years. When I came back, I worked at my uncle’s (now defunct) ad agency in New York; I worked on the A&P account as an art director."
Buckholtz eventually returned to the New Orleans area and in the mid-’70s he opened his own film production company. Between ’76 and ’82, Buckholtz maintained offices in both New York and New Orleans.
Besides commercials, Buckholtz has also made documentaries, including Cyclones and Big Chiefs for the National Geographic channel. His documentaries are related to his television commercial work, as Buckholtz often directs kids and "real people" as opposed to actors. "Half of the art of the commercial is in the casting," he explained. "This [New Orleans] is not exactly the talent capital of the world. So over the years, I found that I would rather take a real person than a bad actor impersonating a real person." Noting a spot trend he added, "Real people directors have become a big thing over the past few years, a category like tabletop or food. The Maysles in New York kicked it off. I’m from that generation."
In-house director of marketing Paul Gowland reps Robert Berning Productions in the Southeast. The company is currently looking for representation in other regions.
